Strategies to optimize phosphate removal from industrial anaerobic effluents by magnesium ammonium phosphate (MAP) production

BACKGROUND: Owing to more stringent phosphate discharge requirements and the increasing prices of fertilizers, beneficial recovery and reuse of phosphate from industrial anaerobic effluents is becoming an important issue. Phosphate recovery by struvite or magnesium ammonium phosphate (MAP) permits its recycling in the fertilizer industry because struvite is a valuable slow release fertilizer. Two different approaches to MAP crystallization depending on initial levels of phosphate in the wastewaters were tested and compared. RESULTS: For low‐phosphate‐containing anaerobic effluents (<30 mg PO₄^3?‐P L^?1), a novel approach using ureolytic induced MAP formation with MgO addition appeared to be suitable. The residual phosphate concentrations in the effluent ranged from 5 to 7 mg PO₄^3?‐P L^?1 and the separated matter contained residual amounts of Mg(OH)₂. High‐phosphate‐containing anaerobic effluents (100 to 120 mg PO₄^3?‐P L^?1) were treated efficiently using air stripping combined with MgCl₂ and NaOH reagents, yielding residual phosphate levels of 8 to 15 mg PO₄^3?‐P L^?1 and spherical pure MAP crystals of 0.5 to 2 mm. CONCLUSION: Results show that depending on the initial phosphate concentrations in the wastewaters and the ammonium and magnesium levels, the strategy selected for struvite crystallization is a determinative factor in achieving a cost effective technology. Copyright © 2008 Society of Chemical Industry     

Efficient generic on-line/off-line (threshold) signatures without key exposure

The “hash–sign–switch” paradigm was firstly proposed by Shamir and Tauman with the aim to design an efficient on-line/off-line signature scheme. Nonetheless, all existing on-line/off-line signature schemes based on this paradigm suffer from the key exposure problem of chameleon hashing. To avoid this problem, the signer should pre-compute and store a plenty of different chameleon hash values and the corresponding signatures on the hash values in the off-line phase, and send the collision and the signature for a certain hash value in the on-line phase. Hence, the computation and storage cost for the off-line phase and the communication cost for the on-line phase in Shamir–Tauman’s signature scheme are still a little more overload. In this paper, we first introduce a special double-trapdoor hash family based on the discrete logarithm assumption and then incorporate it to construct a more efficient generic on-line/off-line signature scheme without key exposure. Furthermore, we also present the first key-exposure-free generic on-line/off-line threshold signature scheme without a trusted dealer. Additionally, we prove that the proposed schemes have achieved the desired security requirements.     

Wet oxidation pre‐treatment of woody yard waste: parameter optimization and enzymatic digestibility for ethanol production

Woody yard waste with high lignin content (22% of dry matter (DM)) was subjected to wet oxidation pre‐treatment for subsequent enzymatic conversion and fermentation. The effects of temperature (185–200 °C), oxygen pressure (3–12 bar) and addition of sodium carbonate (0–3.3 g per 100 g DM biomass) on enzymatic cellulose and hemicellulose (xylan) convertibility were studied. The enzymatic cellulose conversion was highest after wet oxidation for 15 min at 185 °C with addition of 12 bars of oxygen and 3.3 g Na₂CO₃ per 100 g waste. At 25 FPU (filter paper unit) cellulase g^?1 DM added, 58–67% and 80–83% of the cellulose and hemicellulose contained in the waste were converted into monomeric sugars. The cellulose conversion efficiency during a simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) assay at 10% DM was 79% for the highest enzyme loading (25 FPU g^?1 DM) while 69% conversion efficiency was still reached at 15 FPU g^?1 DM. Total carbohydrate recoveries were high (91–100% for cellulose and 72–100% for hemicellulose) and up to 49% of the original lignin and 79% of the hemicellulose could be solubilized during wet oxidation treatment and converted into carboxylic acids mainly (total carboxylic acids = 3.1–7.4% on DM basis). Copyright © 2004 Society of Chemical Industry     

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A Design-Optimized Continuous-Time Delta–Sigma ADC for WLAN Applications

A third-order continuous-time delta-sigma (DeltaSigma) analog-to-digital converter (ADC) is presented for the conversion of an input signal bandwidth of 10 MHz. Design optimization towards minimal power consumption is demonstrated for the high-speed low-power building blocks of the DeltaSigma modulator. From this point of view, it is shown that GmC integrators are preferred over RC integrators in the low-pass filter of the modulator because they show a better tradeoff between power, speed, and accuracy. A new single-bit quantizer topology is presented that incorporates a local feedback path that improves stability using a switched-voltage technique. Finally, a design methodology for the single-bit digital-to-analog converter (DAC) in the feedback loop is proposed, focusing on the impact of high sampling rates on the stability of the converter. The presented continuous-time ADC achieves a simulated dynamic range of 72 dB and a signal-to-noise-and-distortion-ratio of 66 dB in a 10-MHz signal bandwidth. Therefore, it can be applied for WLAN broadband communication. The power consumption of the DeltaSigma modulator is limited to 7.5 mW. The chip is designed in a 0.18-mum triple-well CMOS technology     

Floc-based sequential partial nitritation and anammox at full scale with contrasting N2O emissions

New Activated Sludge (NAS^®) is a hybrid, floc-based nitrogen removal process without carbon addition, based on the control of sludge retention times (SRT) and dissolved oxygen (DO) levels. The aim of this study was to examine the performance of a retrofitted four-stage NAS^® plant, including on-line measurements of greenhouse gas emissions (N₂O and CH₄). The plant treated anaerobically digested industrial wastewater, containing 264 mg N L⁻¹, 1154 mg chemical oxygen demand (COD) L⁻¹ and an inorganic carbon alkalinity of 34 meq L⁻¹. The batch-fed partial nitritation step received an overall nitrogen loading rate of 0.18-0.22 kg N m⁻³ d⁻¹, thereby oxidized nitrogen to nitrite (45-47%) and some nitrate (13-15%), but also to N₂O (5.1-6.6%). This was achieved at a SRT of 1.7 d and DO around 1.0 mg O₂ L⁻¹. Subsequently, anammox, denitrification and nitrification compartments were followed by a final settler, at an overall SRT of 46 d. None of the latter three reactors emitted N₂O. In the anammox step, 0.26 kg N m⁻³ d⁻¹ was removed, with an estimated contribution of 71% by the genus Kuenenia, which constituted 3.1% of the biomass. Overall, a nitrogen removal efficiency of 95% was obtained, yielding a dischargeable effluent. Retrofitting floc-based nitrification/denitrification with carbon addition to NAS^® allowed to save 40% of the operational wastewater treatment costs. Yet, a decrease of the N₂O emissions by about 50% is necessary in order to obtain a CO₂ neutral footprint. The impact of emitted CH₄ was 20 times lower.     

Guideline for Measurement of Ozone Concentration in the Process Gas From an Ozone Generator

A joint meeting of members of the Quality Assurance Committees of the International Ozone Association Pan American Group (PAG), European-African Group (EAG), and Nippon Islands Group (NIG) was held in Oxford, Ohio on November 8 and 9, 1995. The purpose of the meeting was to establish a single, shared guideline for ozone concentration measurement in the gas phase and, in particular, from commercial ozone generators.     

Sustained nitrite accumulation in a membrane‐assisted bioreactor (MBR) for the treatment of ammonium‐rich wastewater

A membrane‐assisted bioreactor (MBR) for sustained nitrite accumulation is presented, treating a synthetic wastewater with total ammonium nitrogen (TAN) concentrations of 1 kg N m^?3 at a hydraulic retention time down to 1 day. Complete biomass retention was obtained by microfiltration with submerged hollow fibre membranes. A membrane flux up to 189.5 dm³ day^?1 m^?2 could be maintained at a suction pressure below 100 kPa. Nitrification was effectively blocked at the nitrite stage (nitritation), and nitrate concentration was less than 29 g N m^?3. The rate of aeration was reduced to obtain a mixture of ammonium and nitrite, and after adjusting this rate the TAN/NO₂‐N ratio in the reactor effluent was kept around unity, making it suitable for further treatment by anaerobic oxidation of ammonium with nitrite. After increasing again the rate of aeration, complete nitrification to nitrate recovered after 11 days. It is suggested that nitrite accumulation resulted from a combination of factors. First, the dissolved oxygen (DO) concentration in the reactor was always limited with concentrations below 0.1 g DO m^?3, thereby limiting nitrification and preventing significant nitrate formation. The latter is attributed to the fact that ammonium‐oxidising bacteria cope better with low DO concentrations than nitrite oxidisers. Second, the MBR was operated at a high ammonia concentration of 7–54 g N m^?3, resulting in ammonia inhibition of the nitrite‐oxidising microorganisms. Third, a temperature of 35 °C was reported to yield a higher maximum growth rate for ammonium‐oxidising bacteria than for nitrite‐oxidising bacteria. Nitrite oxidisers were always present in the MBR but were out‐competed under the indicated process conditions, which is reflected in low concentrations of nitrate. Oxygen limitation was shown to be the most important factor to sustain nitrite accumulation. Nevertheless, nitritation was possible at ambient temperature (22–24 °C), lower ammonia concentration (<7 g N m^?3) and when using raw nitrogenous wastewater containing some biodegradable carbon. Overall, application of the MBR for nitritation was shown to be a reliable technology. © 2003 Society of Chemical Industry     

International studies of human factors in teleinformatics

This paper presents the history and context of the COST II bis work on human factors in teleinformatics. It describes the technical developments to be expected in networked systems which will change the capabilities that will be available to users and discusses the range of human-factors issues which will arise if users are to be able to master complex systems. The paper concludes by reporting the early debates of the working group and the classification of issues which identified the problems requiring human-factors attention